Chris

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Everything posted by Chris

  1. The Idle Book Club 23: Silence

    I'm just dumb! Fixed!
  2. I do think there's a distinction worth making between a podcast (or anything) being "apolitical" and it not directly addressing politics. I agree with the thrust of this thread that the latter is a trap and largely nonexistent. But I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with wanting some entertainment that at least generally aims for the latter. I say that as a straight cis white man who co-hosts multiple podcasts that basically fall into that category. It's not because I have any illusions about what opting out of politics actually means; and it's not because I'm frustrated by left-wing politics. Anyone who pays attention to my general internet presence would observe that quickly, especially recently. But in part because I've spent seemingly every moment of my waking post-November life consuming news and analysis of everything going on in my country and the world, I desperately feel the need to be able to at least roughly control what media channels in my life explicitly concern themselves with political churn. Also, to be honest, if there's anything I don't feel any deficit of, it's political analysis; as smart as plenty of people in gaming media are, and as much as there have been times when their political observations are trenchant and insightful, there are definitely plenty of other informed and intelligent sources when that's what I need (which is often). To that end, when we were developing the concept of Important If True, we very consciously and intentionally made the choice not to directly address politics in it. I (and I'm sure my co-hosts) have no intention to self-censor, but we also have no illusions about the fact that, of all the voices contributing to the political discourse right now, we are not going to be the most essential on that list. It's entirely understandable for someone to find that stance objectionable. But I do think there's value in basically being straightforward about what your show is about. That doesn't mean you can't push those boundaries when you think it's called for, of course. I've had some incredibly difficult things happen in my life recently that are entirely coincidental and unrelated to recent political events. Those things happening on top of the canvas of our stupid world have made them all the more emotionally draining than they already would have been (which is a lot). I've had to compartmentalize my exposure to stressful external events over which I have no immediate direct control. Having specific pieces of media in which I basically know what emotional space I'm going to be living in is incredibly important. I would like to think that people who subscribe to our shows get essentially that same benefit. Nobody would turn on a scripted TV show to unwind at the end of the day with the expectation that the format will be interrupted with the showrunner's ad hoc political punditry. Instead, just as the political outlook and worldview of a scripted fictional show is ultimately reflected in the end result, so is the political outlook and worldview of podcast hosts likely to be evinced over time in their total output. Direct opining about serious matters is entirely valid, but should be undertaken with whatever degree of intention is commensurate to the actual format of the show. It makes more sense for some shows than others, and I don't personally believe a show about a specific topic (whether games, or literature, or architecture, or literally anything else) bears a responsibility to directly address politics on a frequent basis simply because it exists in the world. Part of the point of a free society is to get to pursue passions and interests of great variety. And although many of those passions and interests are not as important as the overall welfare of that free society, I also think the ability to maintain sanity and focus long-term to pursue the work of protecting that society does require release valves in the form of entertainment and culture, including fairly stupid kinds like ours.
  3. Idle Weekend February 28, 2017: Archie and The Unreality of the Real This weekend, we welcome special guest Evan Narcisse to the show, to talk comics, games and books. We're especially interested in conflict in games and comics that *doesn't* come from cartoon bad guys, but instead, a slightly more realistic—and complex worldview. There's a lot of Archie in this one. Also! Here's the link Evan talks about when we discuss one very special episode of The Expanse Season 2: http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-expanses-executive-producer-tells-us-everything-tha-1792685368 Discussed: Archie Comics, Riverdale, The Lego Batman Movie, Dishonored 2, Life is Strange, Horizon Zero Dawn, Get Out, Legion, The Expanse Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes
  4. Idle Thumbs 299.5: Reader Mail Spectacular Your burning questions were so white hot they melted through the mailbag, through the table, and through two stories of floor and ceiling. Join us three floors below the earth in the Idle Thumbs underground bunker (now with mail-shaped skylight) as we get down and dirty with what's left of your letters. Discussed: Donkey Kong Jr., Solar Jetman, Super Metroid Rotation, Dwarf Fortress, Skyrim, Dr. Mario, Doctor Mario (D. Cronenberg, 1992), League of Legends, Freecell, Animal Crossing Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes
  5. At that time they almost certainly would have simply played it back at slightly faster speed and accepted the higher pitch. I know there are examples of that in actual albums but can't think of any specifics offhand.
  6. It's not 50% slower certainly, but in an email, a reader clued me into this fascinating recording, which is the theme to Diary of a Perfect Murder, the TV movie predecessor of the Matlock series. It's a bit slower and slightly more stately than the TV theme: He surmised that the Matlock theme was a sped-up playback of this recording, but if you listen carefully it's clear that they are two entirely different performances.
  7. The really impressive thing is that he's playing it in exactly the right key. That means he either has perfect pitch, heard the song fairly recently and has a very good musical memory, or was just incredibly lucky.
  8. Idle Thumbs: A Patreon

    We do! It didn't seem like there was an easy way to manage international shopping costs through Patreon tiers, but they're only postcards so the additional postage should be a dollar more at max anyway, unless I did a bad job researching this.
  9. Tokyo Game Show and BlizzCon may be over, but they live on in our hearts, and our podcast. Stay awhile and listen for hands-on reports, commentary, and the heart-rending ballad of a once-proud console warrior. This episode probably not sponsored by Gamer Grub. Games discussed: Diablo III, Starcraft II, LittleBigPlanet, Fable II, World of Goo, Hinterlands, Scene It? Box Office Smash, Gears of War 2 http://idlethumbs.net/ (You have no idea the trials and tribulations involved in putting this episode live. Please enjoy it.)
  10. That's not a bad idea. I could mess around with some ideas maybe.
  11. It should! It's (almost) the same chords.
  12. Idle Thumbs: A Patreon

    I didn't realize until I'd watched it a few times that it's a live video recording for the entire duration.
  13. Idle Thumbs Streams

    Not yet, we've been crazily busy between managing the launch of the new show and the Patreon, organizing IT300, upcoming events like GDC, etc. Hopefully things will settle down a bit in the coming weeks!
  14. Idle Weekend February 13, 2017: Stat Decay This weekend, we get too real about aging, athleticism, and the brutal pain of stat decay, in games and in real life. But don't worry, we manage to have some fun too. And we apologize for the lower-than-usual sound quality—to make up for it, there's a post-episode mini-gush about how much we want to wear cowboy hats and watch Westerns together. Discussed: Punch Club, Pitch, Sid Meier's Pirates, Overwatch, A Normal Lost Phone, Emily is Away, Tombstone, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes
  15. Haha, crap, we always forget to update this. Attention @tabacco.
  16. Idle Thumbs: A Patreon

    Nothing's in the bathroom anymore (unfortunately), that was just at our previous office.
  17. The Young Pope

    I agree, I love those so much. As someone who was raised Catholic, I have a lot of memories associated with the Catholic church and I find all the non-pope-specific Vatican scenes to be really endearing.
  18. Idle Thumbs: A Patreon

    Thanks folks!
  19. I don't think this made it on. Jake had to be more selective with the outros than the intros, because including all of them would have made the montage of untenable length.
  20. The Young Pope

    I love it, in part because the show is so inscrutable. I really appreciate that the cool badass "bad guy" protagonist is ACTUALLY a bad person and not just ostensibly a "bad" person who secretly we wish we were, as in a lot of modern prestige dramas. By this I mean, for instance, he holds views (like his views on gay priests) that are likely to be totally unsympathetic to the show's audience. Unlike with, say, most of the motivations of Walter White, we can't really vicariously thrill to his obsession to eradicate homosexuality. It's actually fucked up, not just fun-fucked-up. It feels like a more honest way to make viewers wrestle with morality and protagonist sympathy. I should note I'm two episodes behind so I don't if this dynamic has changed. One of the other things I love about the show is how unpredictable it is episode to episode, in part because so much bonkers shit goes on.
  21. This is a dumb question maybe but what information would you want in an introduction? I'm asking because I don't actually ever know what to say, haha.
  22. It kind of depends. The Idle Thumbs podcast is repped by a real ad company that pays based on download numbers. But Important If True is not, because it's new and small, so the ads are just based on direct referrals. (The other wrinkle here is that Idle Thumbs is probably not going to be repped by a real company much longer, as we have lost about half of our listeners in the last couple weeks, haha.) So anyway, in the case of IIT for now, it doesn't make any difference if you listen to the ad versions or not. That may change if the podcast becomes big enough to actually get real ads again.